The only other demonstration Cecil Bethea ever attended was a 1970 protest at the Colorado Capitol of the shootings at Kent State.
So the 81-year-old jumped at the chance to watch for a few minutes last Aug. 25 when a group of anarchists squared off against police in Civic Center between the Capitol and the Denver City and County Building.
He never expected what happened next.
A photograph of Bethea published in the Rocky Mountain News, handcuffed with bowed head, became a rallying cry for protesters who argued that police at the DNC were unnecessarily heavy-handed.